Expressions of Perceptions

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After we snacked on some cranberry coconut muffins, the chairs, floor, and table were covered in crumbs (mainly because of my 2 year old and 1 year old).

As usual, I got out the vacuum cleaner.  Then I thought aloud to myself why do I make muffins?  My 3 year old was confused as to why I would ask that.  She knew the answer: because they taste sooooo good!  Nonetheless, she asked me why I had said that.

“I wonder why I make muffins because they’re so messy,” I told her.

“What makes muffins so messy?” she asked.

Without thinking, I opened my mouth, and out came the word “kids!”

She laughed and agreed that her brother and sister were responsible for the mess, though she claimed no responsibility for the crumbs under her own chair.  (I admit, there may have been a few under mine, too.)

Kids are messy, but they’re totally worth it.  They are incredible blessings.  It’s easy to complain about having to vacuum after every meal, but some day when the kids are grown, I’ll wish I could go back in time to when they were young – even if it were only to when I was vacuuming up their mess while having a conversation with them.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for who you are and what you’ve done.  It takes courage not only to serve, but also to go on with life after you’ve served. 

Some have sacrificed their lives, and that is commendable, but others have sacrificed more.  They’ve sacrificed their soul, their emotional health, their mental health, and their body.  To me, that is more.

There is peace in death, rest, eternal happiness in heaven.  In living, there is constant torment.  Haunting memories, uncontrollable emotions, physical limitations.  I understand why most who’ve been damaged may wish they would’ve died.  Dying is the more peaceful option.

Not only that, but in death, a person’s sacrifice is noticed.  In life, it is often overlooked and under-appreciated.

 That is why I have such great respect for those who’ve served and lived to tell about it.  It’s not just a sacrifice of a few years of life.  It’s forever.  Those few years impact all of the remaining years in a person’s life, and that person is never the same as he used to be.  Although that’s not always a bad thing, for many it is.

Politics aside, right, wrong, or otherwise, you’ve sacrificed and served.  To the best of your knowledge and ability, you did what you believed to be right.  You’ve made a difference in the lives of many people whether you realize it or not, not just in this country but also in the countries to which you were deployed.  As an individual, you accomplished much.  As part of a group of people fighting to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves, you did more.

I don’t like war, but it is sometimes necessary.  A veteran understands that even if the people he’s fighting to protect don’t.  (I know I didn’t always understand that.)

In my eyes, you’ll always be a hero.  I love you, and I’m honored to have you as my husband and the father of my children.  Happy Veteran’s Day! 

Ecclesiastes 3:1,8 (KJV)

¹To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:    ⁸A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Infant formula, teething tabs, fever reducer, cantaloupe, the list goes on and on.  Product recalls seem to be as common as diaper changes these days.  As a consumer, it’s a big annoyance.  As a mother, it’s annoying, scary, and expensive.

I buy a month’s worth of formula at a time, and you can bet I’m not just going to throw out 4 large, unopened, expensive canisters of formula and just chalk it up to a wasted purchase.  I’m also not going to feed that stuff to my baby either.

To be honest, my son’s formula wasn’t recalled, at least not the formula he’s been on for the last 6 months or so.  He’s strictly on Earth’s Best Organic formula, but I did have a canister of Similac Organic that I bought and hadn’t used yet.  I guess I was too lazy, or busy, to return it, so I kept it on hand “just in case”.

When I heard about the recent Similac recall, I didn’t even check to see if the canister I had was involved in the recall.  I was going to throw it away just to be extra safe.  But it was expensive.  I could buy alot of diapers, or a canister of bug-free formula, with the money I spent on it.  Rather than throwing it out, I emailed Diapers.com, the place I had ordered it from, and told them that I wanted to return a canister of formula that I wasn’t going to use.  To my surprise, they didn’t mention the recall.  They just authorized the return.

I sent the formula back, and a while later I called to check the status of my return.  They told me that it had been recalled and that I’d have a credit issued to my account.  Well, that sounded good, but I now buy my little guy’s formula from Amazon.com (where I get 15% off and free shipping using their Subscribe & Save program), so I asked if I could get a refund instead.  I was told that the money couldn’t be refunded to my credit card but that they could mail me a check, an offer I happily accepted. 

I didn’t have any of the recalled Tylenol, but since I keep a bottle of fever reducer on hand for each one of my kids so as not to spread their germs to each other by using the same bottle, you can bet I’d be trying to get a refund for that, too!  Even though my family wasn’t affected by that recall, I searched the internet (for the purpose of this article) to see what the pharmaceutical company was doing with regard to refunds.  From what I read, they’re offering refunds and/or coupons for a free replacement product.  Of course that doesn’t undo any damage that has already been done, but it does help offset the cost of your purchase.

So, if a product you’ve purchased is recalled, there are things you can do to try to get a refund, credit, or free product replacement.

            1.  Call the company to ask what they recommend.

            2.  Return the product to the store from which you purchased it.

 Most companies carry product recall insurance to assist with the costs of the recall, which sounds both scary and comforting at the same time.  That doesn’t make up for a baby’s bellyache from drinking recalled formula, but it does provide financial compensation.  That doesn’t necessarily make the problem go away, but it does make life a bit easier to afford!

10 Ways to Afford Your Child’s Back-to-School Wardrobe

by Randi Lynn Millward

8/6/2010

 It’s that time of year again.  School is fast approaching.  Huge displays of pencils, tablets, binders, and other school supplies sit side by side throughout the stores.  The summer clothes are on the clearance racks.  The fall clothes abound, with children’s clothing dominating the apparel sections.  After all, it’s a safe bet that most children have grown at least one size since the beginning of last school year, so most of them will need new clothes.

Paying for school clothes is one of those expenses that ranks right up there with Christmas presents and vacations.  But did you ever notice that banks offer Christmas club accounts and vacation club accounts, yet they don’t offer school clothes accounts?  You could always use a regular savings account to save money for school clothes, but how many people actually think to do that?  Most people don’t save up for school clothes, they just try to get a good deal on them when they buy them.

So, how exactly do you get a “good deal” when school clothes shopping?  Is it even possible to find “affordable” clothes in the current economy?  The answers to those questions depend on your income.  No matter what your income though, there are ways for you to get clothes for your ever-growing children.  Let me share my top 10 tips with you.

1.  Buy coordinating pieces:  If you buy clothes in complimenting color schemes, patterns, or designs, you can mix and match the tops and bottoms to create more outfit combinations, thus reducing the number of individual items of clothing that you need to buy.

2.  Shop in the off season:  You can get great deals buying fall clothing on clearance in the spring, and vice versa.  If you can anticipate your child’s growth, buying clothes ahead of time for him to grow into is a great money-saver.  (I once bought my oldest a snow suit on clearance for $12 right after Christmas!)

3.  Swap clothing:  Invite some friends over to swap your children’s gently-used clothing.  They’d probably appreciate both getting rid of unwanted items, and getting free clothing at the same time.  If you don’t have friends to swap with, you could find an online community of people with which to trade.  You could try a Buy-Sell-Trade group or an online classifieds site.

4.  Buy on eBay:  EBay has new and used items for sale, most at discounted prices.  Many sellers offer a shipping discount if you buy multiple items from them.  Some sellers even offer a “lot” of clothing for sale – a “lot” is multiple items of clothing, usually coordinating or in the same size range.

5.  Online discounts:  You can save a significant sum of money if you go to a website like www.RetailMeNot.com and search for online coupons, discount codes, or free shipping codes for your favorite online retailers.  You could also go to your favorite retailer’s website and type “clearance” in the search box to view only discounted merchandise.

6.  Consignment Shops:  Consignment shops are stores that sell merchandise (used or new) for other people for a percentage of the sale price.  The prices at consignment shops are usually very reasonable, and they usually only accept clothing that’s in very good condition.  If you don’t want to buy gently used clothing, you could sell some of your child’s old clothes at a consignment shop to help fund her new wardrobe!

7.  Thrift shops:  Thrift shops are similar to consignment shops, but they’re usually charity-oriented.  They may have new or used clothing for sale, though most is used.  They also have been known to have sales.  I know of a couple mothers who go to Goodwill to shop at their “29-cent” sale rack.

8.  Yard sales:  Have one or shop one!  Yard sales are extremely popular summer events.  If you find a yard sale that has clothing in your child’s size for sale, you could buy his entire wardrobe there for much less than retail.  If you don’t want to shop at a yard sale, you could host your own to help fund your child’s new school clothes from a traditional retailer.

9.  Freecycle:  Freecycle.org is a group with the premise of “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure”.  Members can post for items they’d like to give away or items they’d like to receive.  The site is completely free, so you can’t buy or sell items on it, nor can you trade.

10.  Update existing items:  If your child has clothes that fit but are out of style or that she just doesn’t like anymore, give them an update to avoid buying new.  Decorate jeans with iron-on patches.  Sew tie-backs or decorative buttons on shirts and dresses.  Buy a cheap box of dye and dye them a new color.  Let your child use her imagination, and see what she comes up with!